Remember 2016? Good times, good times. We had so much fun patting ourselves on the back for vanquishing Bro-Country and installing the virtuous and benevolent triumvirate of Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, and Jason Isbell at the top of country music. Florida Georgia Line had been marginalized, Sam Hunt was nowhere to be found. Nobody was selling more records than Stapleton, and Sturgill was up for Album of the Year at the Grammy’s.

But don’t the sinister elements of country music have a way of bubbling back up right when you think the tide has finally turned.

There was a moment in 2016 when it seemed like the country music industry was fixated on the idea that this whole Dave Cobb-produced gaggle could really upset the apple cart. Music Row better be prepared with a Plan B just in case folks actually decided to question what they were being served by the industry, and realized they had much healthier and better alternatives out there. That’s how you get a band like Midland getting signed to Big Machine.

Four years ago, in May of 2013, heading into the summer just like we are now, we were starring straight in the face of the possibility that Florida Georgia Line’s mega hit “Cruise” could become the biggest song in the entire history of country music. Bolstered by a remix with Nelly and Billboard’s recent chart revisions that allowed pop spins to count on country charts, decades worth of records and order were on the brink of being shattered by two dimwits and a dumb song. And eventually that’s exactly what happened, with “Cruise” becoming the longest-charting #1 single in the history of country music.

In May of 2013, Saving Country Music posted an article called, We’ve Got a Bigger Problem Now. It’s Called Florida Georgia Line. At the time we knew “Cruise” was set to make history, and how concerns about the music of someone such as Kenny Chesney seemed so innocuous compared to was “Cruise” was poised to accomplish. Now it’s Florida Georgia Line who feel repudiated and marginalized, losing to the much less commercially-viable Brothers Osborne at successive awards shows for Vocal Duo of the Year, and struggling to find the same chart traction as they once did. Florida Georgia Line, and Bro-Country, will never totally go away. But they’re not what’s poised to rewrite country music history.

That distinction now belongs to Sam Hunt, and his mega hit “Body Like a Backroad.” It looks to shatter even the incredible and previously-thought insurmountable records of “Cruise.” Right now we sit in an eerily-similar position as we did in May of 2013. “Body Like A Backroad” is absolutely dominating every single song chart country music has, and has been for weeks. It’s picking up spins left and right in pop, only strengthening its position in country thanks to Billboard’s aforementioned chart rules, and putting it in contention as the “song of the summer” for 2017. Yes, just like “Cruise” before it, “Body Like a Backroad” could go on to define what country music is for the next half decade.

The fact that we’re even sitting in this position is quite astronomical. Back in 2013 when “Cruise” pulled off it’s historic run, the way country radio was ordered was already a very socialistic system among major labels. Each major male star that released a single got at least one week at #1 before seeing a precipitous fall off the charts in subsequent weeks, making room for the next singles to take #1. The quality of the song or even the reception by the public was inconsequential. Today, that system is even more metastasized. It’s rare to see a song on radio spend consecutive weeks at #1, let alone multiple ones. But yes, not only is “Body Like A Backroad” currently grading where it could challenge the “Cruise” record, it’s likely to beat it.

Now you may say, “Well who cares if some stupid Sam Hunt song goes #1 for months at country radio? I don’t listen, and radio’s on the way to imploding.” All of that might be true, but just like what happened with “Cruise,” it’s not just the one song, or even the one artist that’s the problem. Music Row in Nashville is one of the most copycat industries in all of America. If one thing works, you will have knock offs and dopplegangers coming down the assembly line for years to come trying to recreate the success of “Body Like a Backroad.”

In May of 2013, the term Bro-Country hadn’t even been coined yet. We knew “Cruise” was going to be big, but little did we know that it would go on to define what country music was for a generation, and launch a cottage industry of Bro-Country stars, which brings us to the second problem, and possibly the most diabolical one with the success of “Body Like a Backroad.”

Sam Hunt is not a Bro-Country artist. He is something beyond that, and even less country. One of the reasons “Body Like a Backroad” is so successful is because it incorporates some Bro-Country elements—the misogyny, the cultural identifiers in list form. But it’s still a Sam Hunt song, which means it’s decidedly more EDM and pop than anything. The fact that the song is so massive and being portrayed as country works to break down the traditional definitions and borders of what country music is even further, and this time, possibly, irreversibly so. It is so non country, it better qualifies to fit in virtually every other major genre of popular American music before it fits into country.

Ultimately, though Music Row had one wary eye on the doings of Sturgill, Stapleton, and Isbell, and were worried enough to hedge their bets with acts they felt fit in the same ilk, they really don’t give a shit about the sales numbers and accolades of these non radio artists. They’re perfectly fine acting like they don’t exist whatsoever. Chris Staplton’s success was an anomaly because his name found its way onto some awards show ballots and people voted their conscience for once. But they didn’t put him on the radio, and they’ll never acknowledge the accomplishments of Sturgill Simpson and Jason Isbell as an industry because it’s not of their construction.

“Body Like a Backroad,” just as “Cruise” before it, is poised to break through the crush of media the average American must swim through in their daily lives, be the song that defines an entire summer, and be the very first thing people think of when you mention “country” for the foreseeable future.

The ramifications will be felt for years and years to come, and the mess to be cleaned up will take much work. There is no silver lining here.

Ridiculous. I totally agree that it would be nice to be able to simply say “this crap isn’t country, so who cares?”. But unfortunately it is a real problem is that it digs the hole that much deeper and really hurts the prospects of the real guys and girls who should be getting support and radio play from stations who claim to be country.

On another note, the few videos of Sturgill’s performances this week confirm that he can still kill it on the lead guitar! Looking forward to seeing more from his new slimmed down lineup. I still have some reservations about not having a steel player for some of his songs, but it will be interesting to see how he handles that.

This is a sales and stream-driven phenomenon, not vice versa. Radio wanted to keep it out of the #1 spot for a few more weeks and let Josh Turner and a few other folks get #1’s before it began its reign. But public appetite demanded it go #1 on radio ASAP. You can’t blame radio for this, just like you couldn’t with “Cruise.” There is real resonance within the masses for this song.

I find it annoying that radio will succumb to this simply because of his sex. Miranda & maren were denied top 10 singles last year even though they were selling and streaming better than their male counterparts

Preach it! Also doesn’t help that so many basically push money towards radio/ Bobby Bones to get on air. Why Sony would push/$ into John Mayer when Miranda & Maren are still struggling for country airtime is baffling. This just broadens the gap & Mayer, Miley Cyrus, Jessica Simpsons come in & take already crowded airtime. Just ridiculous! I keep hearing “there is room for everyone” well great them play ALL types of “country” & not just the handful of dudes whose songs sound alike and will be forgotten after their assured #1 radio run.

Maren and Miranda both sold and streamed well, but nothing even remotely like this. The Fighter by Keith is selling well right now, but might not go #1…it’s selling about the level Miranda and Maren sold at. This is a totally different level.

I find all this crap and paranoia about sexism annoying.
Not that long ago, Taylor Swift was the biggest thing in country music. Before that, it was Shania Twain. Or in pop music, Beyoncé, Whitney, Madonna, etc.
Radio plays what the market responds to.

So, what’s the issue/beef then? If radio is deliberately holding off on the song, and the label isn’t massively saturating it, who are you getting angry at? The general public that likes it? No one ever went broke underestimating the American public, but a danceable catchy pop country song that’s fairly inoffensive and marketed to teenage white girls isn’t exactly a stretch to see that it’ll do well in the summer.

The beef is with the charts who count all of the spins on non-country stations to count in being #1 on a country chart. This song is #1 because it is popular with people who think the rest of country is banjo music in the same way we think of Sam Hunt as EDM music. The problem is now that it is a smash hit the people entrusted with the keys to country will chase Sam Hunt so they can find the next song they can market to everyone, not just country music lovers.

This is the *sixth* single off of his debut album dude. He’s been working this angle for 2 years now, Labels and Country formats have been chasing the next same hunt for 18 months now. This isn’t going to change what’s already been in motion for a while.

If his second album has not been issued, or even named, then it’s just hype for the album to refer to this as “the lead single off of his unnamed second album.”
It’s a single that he–and his label–have released. That’s all. If they later put in on an album, or even make it the title song on an album, good for them.

On Roughstock’s most recent digital songs report (last week), Body Like a Backroad had moved 57k for the week before, coming to a total of 805k. By all standards today (in the age of streaming), that’s a crossover smash. The next song, Brett Young’s In Case You Didn’t know, sold 30k for the week (470k total).

I bow to nobody in my hatred for this song. Having said that, this sort of dreck will continue to exist because a *market* for it exists. The fact that some people like Sam Hunt is not purely due to a lack of alternatives. Some people just have really terrible taste. The important thing is that there *are* alternatives and that they’re receiving some visibility. That’s the real ongoing struggle.

This is a cultural problem, as indicated by the quote on the banner of this blog. If you talk to millennials (and I am, unfortunately, one), you can scarcely imagine a more unrooted, vacuous, easily manipulated, and restless generation. Sam Hunt is the product of the culture and what the culture wants. His music is just as vacuous as an average conversation with his peers. The lack of roots in anything meaningful — faith, family, neighbors — is why country music, real country music, doesn’t appeal as it once did, at least not as widely as it once did. Perpetual adolescence is the norm now, for both men and women.

You are very, very right. Though there are problems in the music industry, the real issue is a deeper, cultural one. If you start buttoning your shirt wrong, you are will end wrong. As more and more millenials enter the music consumption world, the more the market is going to be driven towards dreck that will sell to them. Patrick Harris, a few comments earlier really hit the mark with his comment about preserving alternatives to this garbage and educating younger music consumers to the good options out there.

Well I think it all depends upon the perception of things that are meaningful, and obviously that is going to differ for everyone. Sam Hunt is successful because of the way he communicates whatever message he has. I’m not saying that he’s a great songwriter, but he’s certainly effective. He’s obviously seen success performing his own music, but he’s also written songs that have been hits for other, very different performers. Body Like a Backroad, We Are Tonight covered by Currington and I Met a Girl covered by William Michael Morgan all had success despite having entirely different sounds.

I can understand the frustration with Sam Hunt and his popularity under the label of country music, but as long as there are people like Cody Jinks and Sturgill out there still writing and performing songs it’s hard for me to get too torn up about it.

The problem is that Cody Jinks, etc., have little or no chance of ever being in the Country Music Hall of Fame or inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. I know that these institutions do not mean much to many people, but they mean a lot to me and to others. Nashville is basically a pilgrimage site for fans of country music. And it would be a shame if the continuity between the past and the present is lost, as would be the case if Sam Hunt became a mainstay of these institutions.

“The lack of roots in anything meaningful — faith, family, neighbors — is why country music, real country music, doesn’t appeal as it once did, at least not as widely as it once did.”

You hit the nail on the head. It’s not just country, but all mainstream popular music lacks soul and meaningful lyrics nowadays. R&B, pop, rock, etc. Almost all the songs are vacuous silliness. It’s nothing at all like mainstream music was in the 1970s or even the 90s.

That’s a really good point. Though there are some obvious exceptions to this, it sure seems like the last 20 years of popular music has seen can increasingly steep slide into inanity. In the larger music world during the first half of the 90’s, whether rap or alternative rock or what have you, people had something to say. Then we got Spice Girls and boy bands and the undoing of rock. It seems things have just gotten worse from there.

Maybe I am wrong about that, since I have tuned out more and more as the internet has made finding other music easier and digital music has negated the need for radio. Is there even a point to MTV and CMT these days?

The paralells with mainsteam country and mainstream hip-hop.are not coincidental, misogyny, checklists EDM beats that are LOVED by young white girls mainly.

And when was the last time anyone heard a real rock song on the charts. That too is EDM now. As Trigger posted many times before the mono genre is here.

Just as most young people to me seem pretty mono genre culturally. Regional accents, fashion, food, and art is all going mono-genre in the mainstream. Oh look another super hero movie… Oh look another piece of anime fan art…

Trigger,
Your article is very good. You forgot to mention one or two other major things about this.
1. This was his 6th (SIXTH) single off his first album. That’s insanity! I don’t know what the difference in his success would have been if this was the first single. Bro-Country may still be alive….
2. He’s gonna ride this fucker into the next album, which ain’t too far off. Which means his success, and our despair, will probably continue.
Anyone have any comment?

”Music Row in Nashville is one of the most copycat industries in all of America. If one thing works, you will have knock offs and dopplegangers coming down the assembly line for years to come trying to recreate the success of “Body Like a Backroad.””

Yeah …this is really the crux of the issue right here , Trigger . As we all know , Nashville isn’t all that original any more and relies on what’s happening in other genres ( blues ,reggae ,and pop , of course ) to guide it now . If one shit song becomes popular it goes without saying there will be a cavalcade of shit songs designed to mimic that success amongst the mindless audience it seeks to attract ….and , obviously , the mindless exist in droves . Its cool to be a Sam Hunt fan ..if cool is what you’re hoping to be seen as . But the emporer still has no clothes and it may take a few more children to point that out to the emporer’s minions . As I’ve said many times here , Sesame Street , Tele -Tubbies and other popular local kids shows have an audience of millions . It shouldn’t surprise us that this youthful audiences’ ” artistic” growth is deliberately targeted and stunted by these musical ‘ dealers’ the way big tobacco targeted a market way back when . Lowest common denominator marketing will ALWAYS prevail and throw in the element of ”cool” and you do indeed have a problem …..not just musically but , as you note above , culturally . ‘Mindless’ has become a mantra for the many , it seems . I mean …how is it a female audience doesn’t even recognize or care about the demeaning nature of these songs ?

People need to STOP being able to call albums Country just b/c they want it to be in that genre. A song or 2 leaning more Pop in an album is one thing but when albums are fully pop/r&b etc. It is ridiculous. Taylor Swift realized this and now others should follow suit. Sam has always been a pop act. End of discussion. He is from the South & looks dreamy great but stop selling us “he is country” no one believes it. Also changing sounds and stories are great IF the music still resembles country music. His tunes do not! He went the easy route into country, now go and see have Pop radio treats ya… buh bye!

I read this and go full bore melancholy. I am now older (early 60’s) and have noted that when I turn to a “country” station I don;t stay there long. For me, I try to tune in each Saturday evening to the the country station out of Athens, GA for their Country Classics Saturday Night program. Listening to it, it seems like it should be now, but its not. I know that. I have to seek out and find the way it was.

I recall Country was drifting a bit aimlessly int he mid-80’s. There was some criticism. Then all of a sudden – there was Randy Travis, digging up some bones. It was great. I am looking now for that next Randy Travis. I am not optimistic.

It’s out there Batterycap, but people our age have to adapt to changing technology. My vehicle is too old to have an aux jack for streaming, but I am looking to get a new radio put in. Once Spotify or Pandora knows your tastes, they will serve up lot’s of good stuff. I prefer Spotify, and it gives me a chance to listen to new releases in my preferred genres.

Also, try Alexa. I have heard some great stuff that it associates with my requests. Ask for Tennessee Ernie Ford, you may well get some Kitty Wells. I had a long listen to some old favorites by Roger Miller just the other night.

…….being able to find the old stuff out there somewhere is good to know …for sure . but the bigger issue here is that unless mainstream and listeners acknowledge NEW artists playing real country music , the older artists won’t help matters for much longer . its important that the genre survives with all of its time-tested traditional earmarks …not simply being able to find the older stuff out there in cyber space somewhere .

as I’ve mentioned before , the ONLY folks ensuring some semblance of country music survives are the folks writing , recording and performing Bluegrass music . Bluegrass has found a way to ‘evolve’ without sacrificing any of its traditions …from story-telling to instrumentation to classic harmony voicings and a healthy dose of gospel when you want it . new artists are always coming into the fold …young respectful artists schooled and often every bit as skilled as the fathers of the genres …both country and bluegrass .

as Trigger alludes to above , a generation of listeners has been brought up on bro and the like…they are already ‘indoctrinated ‘ unfortunately . they aren’t going back to Merle or Randy or AJ at this point …..that music is just too foreign to their conditioning . but we can still support the genre’s traditions and hope that further generations may yet be influenced on a broader scale…..moved and inspired by the authenticity which is sorely missing from radio pap presently . SCM still has an important mandate ….as do any artists passionate about preserving the genre . sure …sam hunt may have a popular song and it may just spawn a bunch of clones . but ANYTHING trendy has a season and the more folks support it , the sooner it can become not-so-trendy …..mainstream country radio has become a music fashion show ….it has to SOUND trendy …but equally as important ..it has to LOOK trendy ! trends die , thankfully .

It is stipulated that the mentioning of Alexa as a potential source to listen to older country music neither inferred nor otherwise stated that the importance of a continued emphasis on the nurturing and supporting of current and future traditional country artists should be suppressed or otherwise mitigated. The use of this statement of fact regarding the use of Alexa as a springboard for the defense of traditional country music v. the mindless crap that has dislodged it in today’s country music paradigm is a misplaced use.

Personally, I’m shocked that the song is performing so well. Not because it’s bad, or because it’s not country. I’m shocked because I haven’t heard it yet.

I listen to a fair amount of Country and Pop radio, and I have not yet heard the song once. I don’t have any idea what it sounds like. “Cruise” was everywhere in 2013. Is this song really being played constantly like “Cruise” was, and I’ve just been lucky enough to miss it?

What’s most shocking about its success is how it has been marketed as a stand-alone single without any news of a full-length album backing it.

Usually there isn’t the same impetus, that urgency in promoting stand-alone singles like there is lead singles anchored by official news of an impending album release. But Sam Hunt has said several singles will be released prior to the album’s release: much like Maroon 5 and Calvin Harris are doing now at Mainstream Top 40 to success of their own.

I think it’s unlikely that “Body Like a Back Road” will break the chart longevity record UNLESS he commissions a re-mix for the song featuring a flavor of the moment at Top 40 or Rhythmic radio (like Rae Sremmurd among Rhythmic acts, or someone like Daya among Top 40 acts).

It’s already starting to lose airplay at the Country format and the losses are only going to accelerate in a way where modest gains at Adult Top 40 and Mainstream Top 40 won’t be able to make up now that Luke Combs will be #1 next week.

It’ll remain #1 through the start of summer for sure, but I just don’t see retaining the #1 spot through August. It’ll have to seeing the chart longevity record “Cruise” currently maintains stands at 23 weeks.

I don’t know if it will Stay #1 on the Country Radio chart, but I think there’s a very good chance it will on the Hot Country Songs chart. Its #1 on Hot Country Songs already predates its #1 on radio by weeks. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a pause in its #1 on radio to give Luke Combs and others their perfunctory #1 accolades, but if it remains at #1 in sales and streams, it’s going to be hard for radio to keep it out of the #1 on radio as well.

It’s tumbling on country radio, it will never be #1 again there. As for the #1 on HCS it all depends on how much support the “song” will find in the pop market: as for now it’s not doing so well in that format.

I don’t believe for a second that “Body Like a Backroad” has peaked at country radio. I think it’s just getting started. But even if it has peaked at radio, it will be inconsequential to the ultimate impact of the song.

Remember how the trajectory of “Cruise” worked. It’s run at #1 wasn’t consecutive. It first hit #1 on radio on December 15, 2012. Then it started its second run in the Spring, and was carried all the way through September. The “Cruise” record was not on radio, it was on the Hot Country Songs chart.

I don’t disagree with you on your main assertion surrounding the song’s broader impact outside of radio. It’s very dangerous and palpable.

I was only disputing the claim that it hasn’t peaked yet at country radio. From a chartwatching standpoint, all signs point to the single having peaked at the country format specifically. It IS rising slowly at Adult Top 40 and Mainstream Top 40 presently, but its gains are being outpaced by its losses at country radio.

I personally can’t see “Body Like A Back Road” hanging on for another three consecutive months to take the Hot Country Songs record. I’m definitely not saying it’s impossible, but I think he’s going to have to commission a remix to have a sure shot.

It’s a long way ahead on the Hot 100 though which gives an idea of where these songs stand on Hot Country Songs chart. It’s streaming and sales will cover its radio decline for awhile. Whether it’s got 10 more weeks I don’t know but it’s got a ways to go. Very few country songs make it above about #30 on the Hot 100 so until it drops down to around there it’s safe.

I still don’t understand why music that sounds so different from the genre of “country” is taking over this format? This is almost like if Hank Williams started being rammed onto Pandora’s surf radio station. It’s 2 very different genres. Why not take Sam and these others and make a new genre?
I know the country industry people are after the $$$. If this stuff is so hot, why not throw their money into a new genre to get rich off Sam and anyone else that sounds like him. All the rock stations turned into country or pop music stations, why not turn all the country stations now into what this new genre is and stop destroying what it was.

I’m a semi-pro musician and if I mention the word country now as part of my music’s description, I get
a face more often than not, that looks like a baby doing business in a diaper. It’s really too bad. I love the genre and I’m not just about there never being any change or evolution. But there’s a point where when only the drummer is left in a band, it isn’t that band anymore! Same idea applies to the country genre tag in my humble opinion.

I don’t think it would hurt to gather a large group to write and complain to big machine records about they ruined country music
Honestly it makes me angry everytime I turn on the radio amd hear this song. Its sad how blurred the lines are when it comes to defining what country music is these days.

Body like a backroad has no business be at 12 weeks at #1 on country charts. What country music needs is get rid of these wannabe country singers and put them on the pop and rap markets and put real country singers in country music and even older country singers.

You know what’s not fair? The fact that lifelong country music fans can’t listen to the radio anymore. The fact that the best country artists in the world are spending their door jar money just trying to keep the van running for one more gig. The fact that one of the only sanctuaries country fans have left -this “stupid site”- is now getting infested by pop fans who hate it, but still take the time to comment. Did you read the rest of the comments? Do you not realize where you are? Maybe you should check out Whiskey Riff. Don’t let the name fool ya, they’re as watered down and pandering as it gets. They love a pop fan who just loves this new country……. we don’t. Get out.

P.S…. Maybe stop clicking on every headline in your Facebook feed that has “Sam Hunt” in it.

I don’t listen to country radio here in Sacramento, but this song is always on the pop stations. And its a good pop song, although the first time I heard it I thought he was singing, “Body like a backroad, driving with my a**hole”, apparently its “driving with my eyes closed”.
But you can’t label this as anything other than pop, it’s not new country, it’s not progressive country, the word country cannot be used at all in a description of this song.

“Back in 2013 when “Cruise” pulled off it’s historic run, the way country radio was ordered was already a very socialistic system among major labels. Each major male star that released a single got at least one week at #1 before seeing a precipitous fall off the charts in subsequent weeks, making room for the next singles to take #1. The quality of the song or even the reception by the public was inconsequential. ”

Hasn’t it been this way since at least the 80s though? In 1985 there were 52 #1 Billboard Country Airplay hits. That’s a different number 1 every week for a year. In 1985 there were 51 #1 hits.

Music Row wants to make money, if they didn’t make money they’d go out of business. So they produce what they think will sell. FGL & Luke sold, so we got bro-country, Chris Stapleton sold, so we get more people in the Chris lane, Sam Hunt & Thomas Rhett sell, so we get more of this.

And the truth is a lot of people that consider themselves “country” and don’t want to admit to listening to the pop radio station & God forbid an urban format station, want songs that have a beat. Honestly, that’s part of why Jon Pardi has taken off too “dirt on my boots” had the same type of electronic drum beat. So we’ll continue to get stuff like this.

Ok Trigger, here is something more than “flatly disagreeing”. I ask that you post my VIEWPOINT and CONTRIBUTION.

First off, I couldn’t be happier for Sam…my boy is blowin’ up!

Second, I feel this song’s magic IS in it’s multi-genre appeal. It’s a song for everybody regardless of favorite genre. It’s breaking through the mold of what old redneck types feel is “Country”.

Fact is Trigger, no one that still buys new music listens to classic style country or Americana records. The only people buying those records are older people buying older records from older artists. The music buying market that buys NEW music, is a group that doesn’t want to listen to their daddy/grandaddys music anymore. In that regard, I feel Blake Shelton nailed it on the head. He himself made the switch from songs like “Austin” to “Boys Round Here”….I think anyone with a brain will perform or write songs that pander to the BUYING crowd that still buys new music from new artists. It’s why Chris Stapleton writes songs for Luke Bryan. There is MONEY to be made here, and the fact is, people buying new music want this kind of stuff. I know I do.

The older traditional swinging crowd (or the 1 or 2 young people that are likeminded) either buy old records from old artists OR only from new artists who fit that mold but the fact is, that’s a VERY SMALL part of the buying market, certainly not worth labels and Music Row to invest money into the Stapleton types to only appeal to a small part of the market. They’d rather put money into the biggest chunk of the pie, which will make them and their execs MONEY. Guys like Sam. Now that’s a money maker. Period.

The problem is that I don’t think that the numbers bear that out. Sure, the biggest country stars will have their records got number one on the sales chart. But album sales charts are often peppered with and even led by traditional albums with no radio play – Stapleton, Sturgill, Isbell, etc.

I’m a millennial that subscribes to a streaming service, but if you want to find people who actually buy albums, it’s the older folks buying traditional country and rock, not Thomas Rhett and Dan+Shay.

And that’s too say nothing of the financial state of radio itself. The big media companies are nearly bankrupt. Maybe, just maybe, radio would be a little better off if they had some more variety, and more local focus than they have now. Or maybe radio is just dying and there’s no saving it. But whatever they are doing now is not working.

That reads like an essay from a 5th grader who is trying to justify why the crappy teenie bop music she listens to is good and deserves respect. Yes, the vast majority of the buying public will eat up sugar coated crap that is spoon fed to them, and yes, it is a money maker. That doesn’t make the music even close to being respectable or good by any objective artistic standard. Is it a good money maker and cheap ass Walmart mass produced no talent turd that uninformed listeners will eat up? Sure it is. But that is nothing to aspire to.

Finally, you are so wrong about there not being a market for new, good, respectable county music, that it isn’t even funny. Troll on, son.

But …..ITS NOT COUNTRY MUSIC Studley . Sure it may sell …..so does Ed Sheeran , Katy Perry , Beyonce , Drake , Bieber , Rhianna ….and countless other pop artists . But they don’t CLAIM to be country artists and they don’t take valuable airtime away from folks who ARE country artists . And THIS is the real issue .

I appreciate that you’re a huge Sam Hunt fan . Great . Got NO issues with that . I’m a huge Brad Meldhau fan (contemporary jazz pianist ) But Brad isn’t trying to get exposure by calling himself a country artist and releasing music to mainstream country stations . But Hunt is …and so are legions of others releasing pop music ( some with a ‘ twang ‘ in their vocals ) and calling it country .
Here’s what I’m trying to say :
Hank Williams
Merle Haggard
Loretta Lynn
Tammy Wynette
Alan Jackson
Gene Watson
Sam Hunt

Which name seems blatantly out of place on that list of ” country ” artists . More importantly …WHY does it seem out of place ? The answer is that the first 6 artists on that list wrote and/or sang about universal country themes ( plural ) that spoke authentically to country fans of ALL ages about a varied array of life experiences and featured real musicians playing mostly traditional country instruments on some timeless A+ material .
Sam Hunt ( and many other current mainstream artists ) , on the other hand , sings to a very youthful demographic NOT versed in the genres traditions about a very narrow and cliched , generic -sounding life experience WITHOUT traditional instrumentation and often without REAL musicians on the tracks .
So again ….you’re a Sam Hunt fan …..and again …that’s fine , Studley . Whatever turns your crank . But although radio , his label and marketing would have you believe Sam Hunt is a ‘ country ‘ artist , I think its very obvious, by what I’ve illustrated above, that he is anything but that …as successful dollar-wise and as popular as he may be . Those two facts don not , by default , make him a country artist . They only make him a successful pop artist who , dishonestly ,CLAIMS to be a ‘ country ‘ artist.
Like Stephen Tyler , Jessica Simpson , Florida Georgia , Thomas Rhett and many many other folks using the country platform to sell disposable pop rather than timeless , sincere country music which is true and respectful of the traditions of the genre . I don’t want to hear Brad Meldau playing jazz on a mainstream country station any more than I want to hear Sam Hunt when I know there are so many hardworking , dedicated and passionate trad country writers and performers who are being overlooked and cheated by the pop attack on THEIR stations .

To paraphrase a black woman “Ya’ll need Jesus”…… You all are so misguided.

That piece I wrote was the truth…saying it was from a 5th grader is asinine. You just are butthurt because you know it’s TRUE. And it saddens your little traditional country loving hearts. Boo fricking hoo….Cry on.

Young people stream, sure. But they buy most of the new music being released on iTunes or what have you. People may not buy CDs, or to those old farts – tapes and records or 8 tracks, but they still BUY songs and albums. And the biggest chunk of the buying market, is young people wanting new country.

Yeah, there is a market for the Shitpileton types, but it’s such a small number no one on Music Row wants to invest in them when they can go for one of the newer country artists that rakes in the dough and airplay. Album sales aren’t as important as airplay and single sales. But the large market of those who buy albums are still for new country. Face the facts dudes, old country is out, times they are a changing.

Right, Studly. It is also true that Kia sells a ton of shitty compact cars (pop “country”) each year in the US. Way more than Porsche sells 911 turbos, in fact. Does that mean that crappy Kia cars are better than Porsche 911s? Absolutely not….by any objective measure.

If something is selling, that means a good amount of people LIKE it. If Kia kiddie cars are selling, people must LIKE it. Popular means a lot of people like or respect something. They aren’t selling it to trees or plants, real PEOPLE are buying this. Not “fake” sales. You will never convince me that the majority is somehow lesser in musical intelligence than the small chunk of the pie with their superiority complexes. I’m sorry, but people like this music and they shouldn’t be shamed for it by a bunch of stuck in the mud fuddy duddy hillbillies.

Right or wrong, Music Row would be foolish to overlook that and devote their money and resources into lesser selling/playing artists no matter how country they are. It’s irrelevant.

Lots of real people buy skinny jeans, too. That doesn’t make them right. But I do agree with you that Music Row execs have a job to do (make money), and if they don’t they would lose their jobs. So you’re right Studley, they WOULD be foolish to ignore what is trendy, the bastardization of country music be damned. It’s nothing new, they’ve been doing it for a long time, and it ain’t gonna change. To each their own. If everybody liked the same exact thing, there wouldn’t be enough to go around. I’ll drink to that.

Went right over your head Studly. I never said that people weren’t buying them. The point is that just because people are buying a cheap, crappy product doesn’t mean that it is good or noble. There are a ton of people out there with horrible taste, or who are just plain ignorant to what good music is (or more accurately, they just aren’t fans of good music, like yourself). Instead, they are more fans of stupid shiny things like pretty boy / pretty girl pop “country”, and sugar coated ear candy pop songs sung in fake southern drawls. Why do you even comment here if you aren’t a fan of country music? You won’t see me commenting on a Backstreet Boys fan forum….so you should have no interest participating in conversations about country music.

”Yeah, there is a market for the Shitpileton types, but it’s such a small number no one on Music Row wants to invest in them when they can go for one of the newer country artists that rakes in the dough and airplay.”

The ” Traveler” album has sold over 2 million and counting , Studs . Not sure there is another country artist out there right now who comes close to that…but that isn’t the point . Point is …yeah …people WANT this and will buy it in huge numbers !

Anyone else think it is a coincidence that this week’s Billboard Update includes an article of radio programmers complaining about too many 1 week #1 songs being pushed by labels (even though it is ultimately up to radio to decide what to play)? Seems like somebody is trying to buy Sam Hunt another week or two on top if they can.

If there’s something to the timing, I think it’s about recognizing that this is a massive song (love it or hate it) that really deserves more than 2-3 weeks at #1. Radio shouldn’t have to scale back airplay on the biggest country single in 5 years just so Luke Combs’ less resonant Hurricane and Kelsea Ballerini’s dramatically less resonant Yeah Boy can potentially hit #1.

Look at what’s going on in pop. The Chainsmokers’ Closer and Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You were massive songs that connected with listeners to a far greater extent than anything else, and they got to spend 10 weeks at #1. Pop was okay letting songs like the Zayn-Taylor Swift single miss #1 because they didn’t deserve to leapfrog the bigger hits.

BUT ITS NOT COUNTRY MUSIC !!! ….HUNT IS NOT SINGING COUNTRY MUSIC .
Why is that so difficult for his fans to accept ? And if he’s not playing country music , the logical next question is ”WHY is he even on a country chart ”?….much less taking the #1 spot away from artists who ARE playing country music . I mean …the whole discussion of HUNT is off the rails from the get-go because his fans have accepted the premise that he IS a country artist . If we start from the premise that HE ABSOLUTELY IS NOT BY ANY DESCRIPTION a COUNTRY MUSIC ARTIST we get a whole new understanding of the concerns of folks who want COUNTRY artists – not pop artists – to be given a shot on the format that carries their genre’s name

I still stand by my assertion that these bros do not want get called or go pop because they it will be harder to be #1 in genre dominated by women. In country music they can rule the roost and sit pretty without much effort because the do not have to compete with better pop songs.

However I am still baffled as I am with hip-hop WHY females go gaga over this misogynistic dreck. I mean they literally swarm the floor when these songs come on.

The Hot 100 top ten a couple weeks back was all men for the first time since the early 1960s. A couple of years ago it was all women for several weeks in a row. The pop charts are far more cyclical than the country charts.

I don’t like it. But a lot of other people sure do. As a musician, I don’t know if that’s good or bad. The song is tossed off, cliché ridden, and unimaginatively produced. But in fairness, nobody makes any money from recorded music anymore, so why spend a lot to make it? The days of Good Vibrations are long gone. So I get the cheap, easy, and hooky ideal. I don’t think it would kill anyone to come up with some better lyrics but even there, we live in the age of lowest common denominator and most of the kids downloading Body Like… are hip hop listeners – not a lot of Shakespeare there. I heard my 15 yo daughter playing this the other day in between Drake and Lil Uzi Vert and it sounded like it belonged there. Not as a good, but it sounded like it belonged on the playlist.

On the other hand, listening all weekend to Chris Stapleton’s new record and… boring. Just boring. Great, well produced, a lot of time and care was taken you can tell but it bores me to tears. I went right back to Sunny, Angeleena and Sturgill. If you’re going to make music for ‘the olds’ at least bring the imagination – The Weekend might be making music the easy way but that stuff does capture the imagination.

”On the other hand, listening all weekend to Chris Stapleton’s new record and… boring. Just boring. Great, well produced, a lot of time and care was taken you can tell but it bores me to tears”

I hear this concern loud and clear , craig . I finally listened to CHris new album top to bottom and I agree …a lot of that timeless vocal performance is undermined by less than supportive ( borderline boring and poorly produced IMHO ) musical arrangements . It almost sounds like the thing was thrown together without a lot of thought or attention paid to the musical aspects and if it were someone far less successful than CS in terms of $$$$ I might understand . But c’mon …surely there were a couple of available steel players or fiddle men …..or even putting Chris’ mandolin on a few more tracks would have been a more supportive approach ….no ?

I like the record…. song and vocal performance-wise ….maybe as much or more-so than his first record . But it does sound unnecessarily sparse and almost tossed out there to keep the masses at bay .

It ain’t all lost yet. Im sitting in a friggin Starbucks in a liberal town, and they have played six–SIX!– hard county songs in a row. I mean steel guitar twangy shit, not folk. Now, three of them were Chris Stapleton, but three were not. This music is just too good, and too definable (ironically, given the situation with Sam Hunt), too clear of a style/tradition, and too damn fun, to die out.

It might be time to give up the word country, and go to Ameripolitan and Americana, but the substance is the same.

As I type this another steelguitar-driven song has come on. Makes my day.

I wouldn’t say Starbucks playing Stapleton is exactly a sign that country is back ; ) That doesn’t surprise me at all, actually. I did hear some Margo Price in as Starbucks a few weeks back, which was pretty cool.

Seems like a lot of people believe that if an artist hails from the country side, his or hers music is automatically country. Now you can stick feathers up your butt, but it won’t make you a chicken. This so called “new sound of country music” ain’t country, it’s something entirely new and the lack of a properly defined genre makes people mislabel it. bro-country or hick-hop is just condescending terms, you might as well call it redneck-rock. This new music needs it’s own, proper definition, and leave country alone.

There’s two or three kids out there trying to make good music, and the rest of them sound like it’s been strained through some kind of white toast or something. It all sounds just too neat and perfect, with no surprise to it at all. No story, no nothing. It’s like building cars, like an assembly line. It doesn’t sound like anything that came from a guitar.

The music sales charts are about business, but I think it is time to stop believing they are the sole arbiter of what is artistically good and bad in the craft. I gravitated to Country in an effort to find relief from the cheap, machine-made pop that now dominates the mass media (or what’s left of the so-called mass media). Can’t really remember the last time I heard a genuine new guitar rock band in daily media (meaning radio, television variety/interview/current events shows, etc.). What dominates these avenues (musically I mean) are smooth, polished, electronically-produced “studio projects”. I guess this output is providing the best return on the smallest investment by the big recording companies. One blessing is that the digital world is starting to sidestep the big recording firms and go more immediately to the public. I thing SCM is a big example of this movement. Hopefully SCM and others can stop the blandness from spreading – thus restoring “Body Like a Backroad” to a more fitting repository!

This is from RS.com story about Midland, the quote is from Shane McAnally, it’s very telling that even he knows what he’s responsible for isn’t country music…

“[Owen] knows my love of true country music,” McAnally, who co-wrote Sam Hunt’s latest hit, “Body Like a Back Road,” says. He quickly corrects himself: “Well, I shouldn’t say ‘true country music’ – it can all fall under the umbrella of country music – but what I grew up knowing as country music.”

The Owen refers to Midland’s manager, Jason Owen. Good article, but I do take some umbrage to the “bridging country and pop divide” line, it bothers me for some reason I can’t quite put my finger on.

So the comment I made which included several valid points was removed.
As was your rebuttal .
Very strange …it was posted here as of last night..now,removed.
Pretty weak.
Are you unable to host an intelligent debate or are you afraid of someone here actually disagreeing with you as opposed to kissing your ass?

If you want to remove a comment on here,it should be the crack you made about giving your insignificant site it’s daily AIDS treatment.
Fucking offensive, inconsiderate, disrespectful and in just plain bad taste.
.

Well Trigger, it seems most people would rather have a processed steak sandwich than an actual, 100 % Top Choice steak. They’ll say they eat steak when it’s just not. Hey, have whatever you want but just because it has similar qualities doesn’t mean it is. You get what you pay for, as the saying goes.

This comes from someone who actually likes bro country i.e. Brantley Gilbert.
This song is fucking horrible trash and if I were a country fan I’d be very angry at this being called “country”. I’m a rock fan and I’m very angry at 21 Pilots, Lorde, X Ambassadors, Rag’N’Bone Man etc being called “rock”.

How about Sam Hunt wearing that pink $2000 Dolce pimp suit at the music award show…His choice of wardrobe perfectly illustrates his version of country music. Nevermind those gaps he has cut in his eyebrows like a “gangsta” rapper…what an epic fraud.

The fact that this “song” even charted,let alone topped the charts for ONE week,STILL LESS TWENTY-FIVE WEEKS,shows that Country in 2017 is beyond pathetic.I could write better lyrics if I were drunk AND on crack after a lobotomy!!! Then again,I’m not a handsome cowboy wanna-be over whom a bunch of Country teenyboppers swoon!!!!!